The motivations for the research issues addressed in this thesis are based on the needs of the aerospace structural analysis and the design community. The specific focus is related to the characterization and shock induced chemical reactions of multi-functional structural-energetic materials that are also know as the reactive structural materials and their reaction capabilities. Usually motivation for selection of aerospace structural materials is to realize required strength characteristics and favorable strength to weight ratios. The term strength implies resistance to loads experienced during the service life of the structure, including resistance to fatigue loads, corrosion and other extreme conditions. Thus, basically the structural materials are single function materials that resist loads experienced during the service life of the structure. However, it is desirable to select materials that are capable of offering more than one basic function of strength. Very often, the second function is the capability to provide functions of sensing and actuation. In this thesis, the second function is different. The second function is the energetic characteristics. Thus, the choice of dual functions of the material are the structural characteristics and energetic characteristics. These materials are also known by other names such as the reactive material structures or dual functional structural energetic materials. Specifically the selected reactive materials include mixtures of selected metals and metal oxides that are also known as thermite mixtures, reacting intermetallic combinations and oxidizing materials. There are several techniques that are available to synthesize these structural energetic materials or reactive material structures and new synthesis techniques constitute an open research area. The focus of this thesis, however, is the characterization of chemical reactions of reactive material structures that involve two or more solids (or condensed matter). The subject of studies of the shock or thermally induced chemical reactions of the two solids comprising these reactive materials, from first principles, is a relatively new field of study. The published literature on ab initio principles or quantum mechanics based approach contains the ab initio or ab initio-molecular dynamics studies in related fields of a solid and a gas. One such study in the literature involves a gas and a solid. This is an investigation of the adsorption of gasses such as carbon monoxide (CO) on Tungsten. The motivation for these studies is to synthesize alternate or synthetic fuel technology by Fischer-Tropsch process. In this thesis these studies are first to establish the procedure for solid-solid reaction and then to extend that to consider the effects of mechanical strain and temperature on the binding energy and chemisorptions of CO on tungsten. Then in this thesis, similar studies are also conducted on the effect of mechanical strain and temperature on the binding energies of Titanium and hydrogen. The motivations are again to understand the method and extend the method to such solid-solid reactions. A second motivation is to seek strained conditions that favor hydrogen storage and strain conditions that release hydrogen easily when needed. Following the establishment of ab initio and ab initio studies of chemical reactions between a solid and a gas, the next step of research is to study thermally induced chemical reaction between two solids (Ni+Al). Thus, specific new studies of the thesis are as follows: 1. Ab initio Studies of Binding energies associated with chemisorption of (a) CO on W surfaces (111, and 100) at elevated temperatures and strains and (b) adsorption of hydrogen in titanium base. 2. Equations of state of mixtures of reactive material structures from ab initio methods 3. Ab initio studies of the reaction initiation, transition states and reaction products of intermetallic mixtures of (Ni+Al) at elevated temperatures and strains. 4. Press-cure synthesis of Nano-nickel and nano-aluminum based reactive material structures and DTA tests to study experimentally initiation of chemical reactions, due to thermal energy input.

Abstract : The objectives of this work were to prepare and characterize films of benzylic amide macrocycles and rotaxanes obtained by functionalisation of an acidterminated self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on gold, and thus to probe the aptitude of these surfaces for applications in the field of the nanotechnologies. We initially studied the self-assembled monolayer of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid and focused on its composition, structure and organization. We show that the molecules of alcanethiol are oriented with the acid group pointing out from the surface. The film is highly ordered with defect density below 0.2%. We investigated the functionalisation process with the covalently bound Mac-OH macrocycle, with the physisorbed Mac-pyridine macrocycle and with the naphtalimide rotaxane. The latter is also anchored to the SAM through a non-covalent interaction. We focused on the comprehension of both quantitative as qualitative characteristics of the films, such as the degree of functionalisation, their stability with respect to external constraints, their order and homogeneity, their structure and their orientation. By combining techniques such as X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, electrochemical and contact angle measurements, we demonstrated that the films of macrocycles reach a high degree of functionalisation. The layers are homogeneous and a preferential orientation of the macrocycle molecules with the plan of the ring tilted with respect to the surface and with the alkyl chains pointing-out from the films is observed. In addition, we studied the possibility of using the macrocycle films for molecular recognition, employing the Fc-Gly-Gly molecule as a model target. Through similar experiments and analysis, films of naphtalimide rotaxane were proven to give a good functionalisation of SAM. The molecule adsorbs with a preferential orientation of the linear axis parallel to the surface and the macrocycle unit normal to it. We characterized the fluorescent properties of the molecule due to the naphtalimide group and showed that when adsorbed on a gold substrate the presence of the self-assembled monolayer prevents total quenching. <br> Résumé : Les objectifs de ce travail étaient de caractériser des films de macrocycles et de rotaxanes de type amide benzylique obtenus par la fonctionnalisation de monocouches auto-assemblées d'alcanethiols, ayant un groupe acide terminal, sur une surface d'or, et ainsi de mettre en évidence certaines des potentialités de ces surfaces en vue d'applications éventuelles dans le domaine des nanotechnologies. Nous avons d'abord étudié la monocouche auto-assemblée de l'acide 11-mercaptoundecanoïque et particulièrement les aspects tels que la composition, la structure et l'organisation du film et nous avons mis en évidence que les molécules d'alcanethiol sont orientées dans le film avec le groupe acide vers l'extérieur de la surface, de façon à pouvoir interagir avec les molécules à greffer, et que le degré d'ordre de la monocouche est très élevé, en montrant celle-ci une fraction de défauts inférieure au 0.2% de l'aire totale du film. L'étude de la fonctionnalisation successive avec le macrocycle Mac-OH, lié de façon covalente, et le macrocycle Mac-pyridine ainsi que la rotaxane naphtalimide, ancrés à travers une interaction non-covalente à la monocouche auto-assemblée, a porté une attention particulière à la compréhension d'aspects tels que le degré de recouvrement de la surface, la stabilité vis-à-vis de contraintes externes, l'ordre et l'homogénéité, ainsi que la structure des films et l'orientation des molécules. Grâce à la combinaison de techniques telles que l'XPS, l'IRAS, les techniques électrochimiques, les mesures d'angle de contact et l'AFM, nous avons mis en évidence que les films de macrocycle atteignent un recouvrement élevé et homogène de la monocouche autoassemblée et qu'une orientation des molécules de macrocycle, avec une inclinaison du plan de l'anneau par rapport à la surface et pointant leurs chaînes alkyles vers l'extérieure du film, est observée. Ensuite, nous avons abordé la possibilité d'impliquer les films de macrocycle en tant que récepteurs moléculaires d'une molécule modèle, la Fc-Gly-Gly. Par une caractérisation similaire, les films de la rotaxane naphtalimide ont montré d'atteindre un recouvrement élevé de la surface de la monocouche avec une orientation privilégiée des molécules avec l'axe parallèle et le macrocycle perpendiculaire à la surface pour pouvoir interagir, à travers les fonctions pyridine du macrocycle, avec la monocouche. De plus, nous avons caractérisé les propriétés fluorescentes de la molécule, résidantes dans son groupe naphtalimide, lorsqu'elle est adsorbée sur un substrat métallique, l'or, affectées par la présence de la monocouche auto-assemblée.